3.08.2008

Tim and Dan called late Thursday, saying they had found "Utah" at Breck. Brian and Meg checked it out, I was quite done already. First thing Friday we got out, made some first tracks, and headed straight for it.What we found: Windows. There was a really tight traverse off the E Chair into the Back 9 Bowl and a section of the mountain called the Windows Chutes. It was insane. On a snowboard, the traverse was a bit tricky and a clipped a few trees. Once I caught up with everyone in chute 5 I knew we were in for a good time. We were completely isolated from everyone in these remote and tight woods with amazing untouched snow.

It was some of the greatest riding I've ever had. The 6 of us, minus one brown bear, cruised through about 4 times. Each time going down different chutes and cutting down different lines through the trees.Hiking up into deep powder stashes was had to mixed degrees of success. Video will follow soon enough.I got stuck in a tree - thank god for helmets.Conclusion: Windows was one of the coolest things I have ever done and we all were psyched we found it at all.

3.06.2008

Another day, another peak. At Breck today we headed over to the new peak, Peak 7, to see if there was anything good there. There wasn't.Weather was pretty rough today. Supposedly between 10-15 degrees and a lot of wind, but for some reason it wasn't the same as East Coast cold. We split up later on and I hit up some of the great mixed tree / ungroomed snow trails by Chair 6. I decided to get really ambitious on a tip from a local and headed over to the T-Bar to get to the Horseshoe Bowl.While the T-Bar is the most horrible invention in history, it brought me to some of the best conditions I've ever been in.Tomorrow will be the last day of riding and no one is in a hurry to get home.

3.05.2008

Arapahoe Basin. A basin, Awesome basin. Words do not convey how insane this place was. Its base lodge was at the mid 10,000 ft and I was feeling it hard.The place is a real locals-only establishment and most people there were very good. As you looked around you were surrounded by the highest mountains I have ever seen. Hence the name basin, and not mountain. Once you climb from the exhibition lift to the mid-station and then up to the summit of the main face you just see snow bowls all around.Some hardpack and crunchy snow, but also a good amount of powder by the trees and under certain lines.The real kicker of this place is getting to the top, then hiking around to the Montozuma Bowl. The entire backside of the ridge is a 1500ft of vert bowl that allows you to ride however you want.We went through 3 different conditions today which really spoke to how unpredictable it can be up here. We arrived in the bluest of blue bird days.By noon it was a complete white-out with heavy snow coming down. Finally we had some really flat light with sun breaking through here and there. Tim summed it up best, "this place is a playground."

3.04.2008

Day 2 at Breck. We woke up with snow and wind. It became obvious that the peaks were completely whited-out and we knew we'd be in for some fun. We spent a good portion of the morning way out on Peak 10 in some amazing trees. Literally acres and acres of sick tree skiing with unbelievable snow cover.I went party hard after some lunch and headed straight for the summit. Unless you knew there was a mountain up there, you would have had no idea. 0 visibility. 30 mph winds. Blowing snow. I got to the top of the summit - and couldn't even see my hand. Ski patrol was locking down the higher summit was closed. We all meet up later on doing sick runs down Chair 6. Amazing powder and everyone left the mountain because the wind and whiteout got so intense. Good times had by all.

Most of us woke up around 4:30-5:00am fresh as a dasiy and had to kill a lot of time before lifts opened. Snakeskin pants and I descended into town and hit up the awesomeness that is Daylight Donuts.Everyone started getting their ass in gear by 8 and we picked up our horribly misspelled lift tickets. It seems "cleary" was too hard of a name, so I was instead Shaun Carly. Swell.Onto the Gondola and up to the Breck base. We headed for some of the gnarliest steep terrain that the mountain had and really got worked.

Getting up to the Summit was amazing. 12,990 feet. Above the treeline. 20% less O2 than at sea level.

I'll just let the pictures do that talking because there were just too many runs and too many amazing things that words don't aptly describe.

3.02.2008

We arose at the early hours and found ourselves quickly swept away to JFK.

For once the flight wasn't late and Jet Blue accommodated well. Within five minutes of being at the aiprort, beers were consumed.The flight was swell; beers were consumed.

We arrived into a blizzard in Denver and grabbed out transfer. Awesome dude Paul was our driver on the lovely CO Mountain Express.5 other people (read dead weight) were on board yet never spoke. Scenery was sick, cut through the mountains, under the continental divide- all through heavy snow.Got to Breck at 4. Absolutley gnarly. Sick condo.Town is sick.Motherloaded was excellent.... the avalanches flowed.